Daily Pampering: The Betsy Spa and Wellness Garden

by Annie Scott on


If you’re looking for a little R&R in Miami Beach, the beautiful Betsy Hotel has you covered. They have an all-new spa menu, developed with the help of Miami City Massage, which includes luxurious treatments like Sugar Plum Swedish and Mandarin Deep Tissue massages, a tantalizing Mimosa Toast Couple’s Massage and a Blueberry Baby’s Breath Pre-Natal Massage with 100 percent natural products from Éminence Organic Skin Care.

Other treatments we like the sound of include a Chocolate Truffle Treatment, a Wood Stone Ritual, and both Mojito and Champagne mani-pedis. Spa packages like Romance (a sensual $300 experience for couples) and Sex and the City ($225, for hard-shoppers to get ready to party — complete with makeup application) are available for the truly elite. All the treatments can be enjoyed in your guest room, poolside, in a private ocean-view cabana or in the Wellness Garden.

The Wellness Garden is “a Zen inspired relaxation area with Ipe wood tea table and platform-like seating, surrounded with lush vegetation.” It’s a serene place for quiet meditation and deluxe spa treatments (with three private cabanas), decorated in calming, natural elements like wood, stone, and bamboo.

To download The Betsy Hotel’s Spa and Wellness Garden full menu, visit the website.

Want more? Get your daily dose of pampering right here.

Playboy makes a play for South Beach hotel

by Melanie Nayer on

There’s a whole new kind of sexy coming to Miami’s hotel scene.

Rumor has it, Playboy wants to buy out the struggling Sagamore hotel giving the Playboy Bunnies and of course, paying hotel guests, a new place to call home (at least for a night).

The Sagamore, located on trendy Collins Avenue, has apparently missed its last three mortgage payments, and Playboy wants to come to its rescue. And why not? The Sagamore has prided itself as an artsy, luxury South Beach hotel complete with 93 one- and two-bedroom suites, a penthouse and 900-square-foot bungalow suites with spiral staircases and connecting bedrooms, which I can only imagine mirrors something similar to the Playboy mansion.

At the news of the Sagamore’s $31.5 million foreclosure lawsuit, Playboy put plans in motion to market a version of its popular Las Vegas Playboy Club in South Beach. Playboy founder and icon Hugh Hefner, and his brood of beauties, are said to be adding their own redecorating on the hotel suites. Guests willing to pay a premier could sleep in a redesigned Hugh Hefner suite.

What are the chances Hef brings his riveting E! TV Show “The Girl’s Next Door” to South Beach? Seems likely… if plans for the Playboy takeover go forward, the Sagamore will trade in its lavish art scene for bunny-clad waitresses and VIP lounges, according to reports in Florida’s Sun Sentinel.

No official announcement has been made but you can be sure we’re watching this transaction closely. If the Playboy financing goes through, things could get even steamier on South Beach.

Photo credit: Caballero, Miller/Getty

Undiscovered New York: Top 5 Beaches

by Jeremy Kressmann on

The USA has some fantastic urban beaches. In the Summer, Chicagoans are spoiled by happening North Avenue Beach on Lake Michigan. Miami has South Beach, littered with plenty of palm trees, fake tans and toned bodies. In L.A. there’s Santa Monica and Malibu. But what about New York City? For a metropolis surrounded on all sides by water, you’d think there would be some more obvious beach options, right? The truth is New York does have surprisingly decent sun, sand and surf – you just need to know where to look.

Believe it or not, New York has enough sandy, swimmable beach options to make your head spin. From happening urban beach parties and hidden unspoiled sands within the limits of the Five Boroughs, to some truly great wild beaches within an easy day trip of Manhattan, there’s enough oceanfront out there to please even some of the most die-hard of beach-lovers.

With Summer weather in full swing, there’s no better time for Undiscovered New York to count down the city’s top 5 best beaches, all either within city limits or close enough for a day trip. Think you’re a New York beach veteran? We bet there’s at least one great waterfront on this list you’ve never visited. Click below for our picks!
Beach #5 – Water Taxi Beach(es)
A trip to the New York City beach might seem like it involves trains or boats, but did you know there are beaches you can get to with no more than a taxi ride? We’re talking about New York’s three Water Taxi Beaches, which feature over 1,000 tons of sand, food, frequent live music and some killer views of New York City (see left).

Want to check it out? Just hop in a taxi, get on the subway or grab a water taxi and head one of their three locations at Long Island City, South Street Seaport or Governor’s Island.

Beach #4 – Long Beach
Just an hour from New York on the Long Island Railroad is Long Beach, a surprisingly happening Summer beach town and favorite beach day trip for claustrophobic New Yorkers looking to beat the heat. Grab one of the daily express trains from Manhattan’s Penn Station and you’ll be laying on a towel near the ocean in no time. Play some frisbee or volleyball, have a swim and then be back in the city in time for happy hour cocktails.

Beach #3 – Sandy Hook
We first mentioned Sandy Hook during our exploration of New Jersey back in April, and in terms of New York area beaches, it’s one of the best. Just a 30 minute ferry ride from Manhattan’s South Street Seaport is one of the more unspoiled stretches of sand in the Tri-State Region boasting wild beach grasses and some interesting history to boot. When you arrive at the Sandy Hook landing, be sure to check out historic Fort Hancock, which at one time played an important role in the defense of New York Harbor.

Beach #2 – Robert Moses State Park
Finding the best spots in New York sometimes takes effort, and the beaches at Robert Moses State Park are no exception. Although this pristine sandy stretch along New York’s Fire Island is not really accessible by public transportation, it’s worth the car trip to get here. And because Robert Moses is located on a barrier island well off Long Island proper, it’s home to some coastline that could hold its own with some of the best beaches anywhere in the U.S. All within about an hour’s drive of New York.

Beach #1 – Fort Tilden
As far as “undiscovered” New York City finds, Fort Tilden’s unspoiled beach has to be one of the best. This little-known beach, located near the site of an abandoned military installation in the Rockaway Peninsula in Queens, is one of the more remote and serene stretches of sand you’ll find anywhere in the city limits.

Forget Coney Island – on Fort Tilden’s beach you’ll have plenty of sand all to yourself. The hard part is getting there – you’ll either need to take a car or 12 mile bike ride from Manhattan. Check out this piece for advice. Good luck!

South Beach, as in “a backpacker-friendly destination”

by Iva Skoch on

What do backpackers and South Beach have in common? Easy. They both love thongs. (Not bad, considering I am only on my first cup of coffee today, eh?)

There many many places that come to mind when a visualize a “backpacker destination.” South Beach, Florida would not be on that list. Apparently, I am wrong.

This AP article talks about South Beach becoming increasingly more backpacker-friendly, offering affordable hostel accommodation right in the center of it all: “Anywhere between three to 14 travelers are cramped in one room at a hostel, sleeping on bunk beds. A room with 12 beds can run for US$18 a night per person; an eight-bed room is $18; $30-$40 for smaller rooms.”

That, interestingly enough, is cheaper than the last Strawberry Daiquiri I ordered in South Beach. I remember paying $16 (and that’s way back when the dollar was actually worth something) and they gave it to me in a small plastic cup. Maybe that’s why I could never picture South Beach as a backpacker-friendly place…

[via canoe.ca]

Weekend In Miami: Next Weekend

by Willy Volk on

Before embarking on this Miami trip, I spent a lot of time doing pre-departure research, deciding what I wanted to do and see, and even plotting the best way to get to destinations. Some travelers may think I over-planned the trip, but without some planning, there was no way I was going to see everything I wanted to. If you’re curious, here’s how I scheduled our weekend, Saturday on the left, Sunday on the right:

Yes, those are removable stickies, which make rescheduling easy. No, I didn’t get to everything I wanted.

By the way… a special thanks to my accommodating wife for letting me drag her around Miami all weekend. And for the record: she claims she had a great time and was fine with our hectic schedule.

Now that we know so much about Miami, we can’t wait to get back. So what are we going to do? As you might imagine, I’ve got the whole weekend planned out already…

We’re going to head up on a Thursday afternoon, and check into one of these hotels:

On Thursday night, we’ll grab dinner at Tap Tap and then head to the funky Pawn Shop Lounge. (Our waiter at Afterglo claimed this was the best night to go.)

On Friday, we’ll have breakfast at the (oceanfront) Front Porch Cafe. Then, we’ll head to Kampong and explore the beautiful gardens (appointments required!). We’ll grab lunch at Scotty’s Landing (overlooking the water), and swing by M-80 for some edgy, hipster clothes. We’ll relax on the beach for a while, and head to the Delano Poolside Bar for late afternoon cocktails (mmm… mojitos). After dinner at Madiba’s, we’ll have a few drinks at Ted’s Hideaway (hope it isn’t too smoky), and then catch some live music at either the Slak Lounge or Jazid. Sleep.

On Saturday, we’ll wake up and go on a Stiltsville & Key Biscayne Boat Tour. (If the tour isn’t running that day, we’ll either do some (free) Yoga in the Park, or go sea kayaking around Key Biscayne.) We’ll grab a late, healthy lunch at Pasha’s, and then take a nap on the beach — or in the room, if we’ve already spent too much time in the hot, Miami sun. We’ll play dinner by ear (See? I don’t plan everything!), and then head to Aqua Booty, for a relatively laid-back club scene. (If we’re just too tired, then maybe we’ll catch a Ghosts of Miami City Cemetery Night Walking Tour.)

On Sunday, we’ll have brunch at the chilled-out Ice Box Cafe, swing by either the World Erotic Art Museum or the Flying Trapeze School, and then buzz by Romanico’s Chocolate as we head out of town — so we have a small treat back home to remember our weekend by.

Now, let’s see… What have I forgotten…